I agree about Giveaways not only being for supporters, but I'm HATE seeing people sign up/0 post, just to get in for a giveaway. I've done a few myself, rules are usually an amount of post for smaller gifts just to show your a participate, and not a gear whore. I use the supporter threads or secret threads for bigger ones.. after all those folks are funding site expansion. Neither group is neglected.. I love giving stuff away. Anyways whoever is doing a give-away has say in what the rules are, so its up to that individual.

I am active on three forums and do on occasion post giveaways. Your concern is easily addressed by putting in a minimum post count requirement (10, 25, 100, etc) to participate rather than being a supporting member.

Giveaways for supporting members that are done could be done in such a way as to not create the cliques that cause concern. Post them in the supporting members only section and the rest of the crowd will not even know about it. At the "other" place they were posted in the open forum for two reasons IMO - to try and get people to become a supporting member so they can participate in the free stuff giveaways and to further enhance the atmosphere of a caste system.

Done... Now I really have to make sure I don't get kicked off of here for at least a year... LOL

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I love being out in the woods! I like this quote from Mors Kochanski - "The more you know, the less you carry". I believe in the same creed, & think "Knowledge & honed skills" are the best things to carry with ya when you're out in the wilds. They're the ultimate "ultralight" gear!

You guys' contributions have enabled us to upgrade our storage space. As you all know our anniversary is in January, (and that's when the hosting bill is due). It turns out we had exceeded our allotted storage space and the options were upgrade to more space, or delete a bunch of old posts!

Well, naturally we want to save all that stuff so I tripled the storage space. That should suffice for at least another year and a half depending on how fast we grow. So far this host (Online Institute) has been great so I don't see a need to swap to a different host any time soon, but if we continue to grow there will probably come a time when we need a dedicated server. I am hoping they can offer dedicated server hosting when the time comes because these guys are quick to respond, knowledgeable, and very helpful if the recent tapatalk issue is any indication. They had us up and running again with full functionality after the crash in a matter of hours.

Thanks to all the supporters! I can't afford to help in that way right now, but I think it's a great idea to have extra content for those who do, including larger item giveaway opportunities. I think supporting us, "freeloaders" is grounds for a few extra perks. :-)

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"Move swift as the Wind and closely-formed as the Wood. Attack like the Fire and be still as the Mountain."Sun Tzu

The way I look at it is a magazine subscription can cost as much. Do you get to share with a magazine? No and you don't have a faster ever growing data base to collect from with plenty of folks to help answer questions if you have a few. Nor can you meet local guys and make good friendships for your family to interact with. Forums like this will be what holds true crafts,trades and communities together as this world gets so technical. Join up and give the guys the resources to make this place even better.

Thanks to all the supporters! I can't afford to help in that way right now, but I think it's a great idea to have extra content for those who do, including larger item giveaway opportunities. I think supporting us, "freeloaders" is grounds for a few extra perks. :-)

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No such thing as "freeloaders" here at Blades & Bushcraft because financial giving isn't the only way one can contribute. The real perks for paid members isn't the "extra content" (ya'll aint missing much there) but it's in dialoguing with people and sharing our common interest of Blades & Bushcraft, for me that's the real perk!

Just "me" thinkin here, but it would sure be nice to see a few other folks getting in here, & helping out.

No pressure of course. Unless you feel that way.

Get 'er done, then.

No one likes a "slacker"!

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I love being out in the woods! I like this quote from Mors Kochanski - "The more you know, the less you carry". I believe in the same creed, & think "Knowledge & honed skills" are the best things to carry with ya when you're out in the wilds. They're the ultimate "ultralight" gear!

Started off the new year right! Only been lurking around the last few months but can already tell it's a great place full of very knowledgeable folks. Me, I'm keepin the ads, so far they seem to at least be very on-topic so it's interesting to see the new products that come out.

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Leather, wood, steel, wool, waxed canvas, beer, coffee, venison, a hunk of sharp aged cheddar and a bowl of good pipe tobacco. Everyday is a blessing.

I love being out in the woods! I like this quote from Mors Kochanski - "The more you know, the less you carry". I believe in the same creed, & think "Knowledge & honed skills" are the best things to carry with ya when you're out in the wilds. They're the ultimate "ultralight" gear!

Just doing a little cleanup. Orbean is not in any kind of trouble, but we need to keep things peaceful. I hope everyone understands, and I hope we can continue to focus on our thing. Whatever anyone else does is their business and doesn't concern us here.

I ante'd up for another year. It was my missus B-day yesterday & the grandboys came up to spend a couple days with us. My subscription expired at 6PM or so last night, & in all the B-day doins around here I forgot to ante up last night. So I paid the dues this morning at about 6 AM. Lost 12 hours of continuity but I got it done. More than happy to do it!

Hoping to see more folks jumping in with a subscription too!

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I love being out in the woods! I like this quote from Mors Kochanski - "The more you know, the less you carry". I believe in the same creed, & think "Knowledge & honed skills" are the best things to carry with ya when you're out in the wilds. They're the ultimate "ultralight" gear!